Avid Elixirs for 2012

[sk8r]

Originally Posted by C.Lee

you need to bleed it if you need to pump up the brakes.

they work flawlessly if you take you time and bleed it. friend of mine took it to a shop to have it bled and they bled it like an ass.

What I thought too, but had them bled, and they just got gummy again -- and was told it was just something that seems to happen on the rear brake ("longer line" I'm wondering if Znarf ever worked out in the TriCity area?) with some Avids, and I should just move the lever out a bit more.

Bled them myself, front and rear, and the front perfect, the rear tight at first and over 30 minutes went gummy again...

Probably time to buy new ones... worth it to get the "contact adjust" feature?

[Dirk]

Originally Posted by C.Lee

i guess you don't own any apple products?

No. I don't. I'm not a huge fan of planned obsolescence.

This is actually more of a comment about the machine. SRAM creates new brake. Tells world brake is more powerful than Juicy's, less powerful than Codes, best brake ever. Magazines/Websites review brake. Ride for 1 week. Write "Best brake ever. More powerful than Juicy's, less powerful than Codes." And that's it.

Nobody rides the brakes for 6 months then writes something up. Nobody bleeds the brakes themselves. Nobody acknowledges that there might be a problem. But a year or two later we get "Oops...Ya...We kind of screwed up. That wasn't the best brake ever. This is!"

It's total bullshit.

[Oldfart]

I have found Avid's a challenge to bleed too. But once it's done properly no issues at all. All the adjustments do something and they seem to stay in position whereas other brakes I have had get lever creep or lack real adjustment or enough adjustment. I have had a couple different XTR, the first Hayes brakes, Juicy and Elixirs and some XO brakes and Hope Tech X2. The Elixir and XO are the best brakes I have used. I considered the new XTR when I recently bought the XO's. Chose what I know versus the much pricier XTR

[boomforeal]

Originally Posted by Dirk

No. I don't. I'm not a huge fan of planned obsolescence.

This is actually more of a comment about the machine. SRAM creates new brake. Tells world brake is more powerful than Juicy's, less powerful than Codes, best brake ever. Magazines/Websites review brake. Ride for 1 week. Write "Best brake ever. More powerful than Juicy's, less powerful than Codes." And that's it.

Nobody rides the brakes for 6 months then writes something up. Nobody bleeds the brakes themselves. Nobody acknowledges that there might be a problem. But a year or two later we get "Oops...Ya...We kind of screwed up. That wasn't the best brake ever. This is!"

It's total bullshit.

welcome to the western world

[stuart@nsmb.com]

Originally Posted by Dirk

No. I don't. I'm not a huge fan of planned obsolescence.

This is actually more of a comment about the machine. SRAM creates new brake. Tells world brake is more powerful than Juicy's, less powerful than Codes, best brake ever. Magazines/Websites review brake. Ride for 1 week. Write "Best brake ever. More powerful than Juicy's, less powerful than Codes." And that's it.

Nobody rides the brakes for 6 months then writes something up. Nobody bleeds the brakes themselves. Nobody acknowledges that there might be a problem. But a year or two later we get "Oops...Ya...We kind of screwed up. That wasn't the best brake ever. This is!"

It's total bullshit.

Much as I hate to disagree with you, Dave, () your sweeping generalizations aren't entirely accurate. I can't speak for any other site or mag, but we don't just ride once and rave. From the article: "I'm going to wait until I have a few months of ride time on my local trails here in BC - and a few bleeds in the home workshop - before I pass final judgement on the Elixirs."

We also service stuff, and deal with technical issues.

As for "the machine", it's called marketing. You're a smart guy. You know the drill. Hell, you even market your own frames. Don't buy into the hype from the big, evil component / bike / frame / fork manufacturers if you don't want to.

But you're wasting your time and energy, and you're sadly mistaken, if you think it's EVER going to stop. Accept it for what it is or tune it out.

And go ride your bike. The interweb seems to make you grumpy.

[morgman]

I got a good deal on a set of 7" Elixir 3s to replace my 8" Saints (M800), and am completely happy with the switch. Lever feel and modulation is significantly better, with no noticeable drop in power.

I'm also a happy Apple product owner. Sure, my 4 year old Macbook is not upgradeable beyond a bit of ram and hard drive size, but after that amount of time, it still WORKS.

Complaining about planned obsolescence seems to ignore the fact that innovation will always make what we are currently using obsolete.

[roy]

Originally Posted by Dirk

No. I don't. I'm not a huge fan of planned obsolescence.

This is actually more of a comment about the machine. SRAM creates new brake. Tells world brake is more powerful than Juicy's, less powerful than Codes, best brake ever. Magazines/Websites review brake. Ride for 1 week. Write "Best brake ever. More powerful than Juicy's, less powerful than Codes." And that's it.

Nobody rides the brakes for 6 months then writes something up. Nobody bleeds the brakes themselves. Nobody acknowledges that there might be a problem. But a year or two later we get "Oops...Ya...We kind of screwed up. That wasn't the best brake ever. This is!"

It's total bullshit.

its not really planned obsolescence just because they come out with a new brake which is better than the old one, my juicy 3's i've been using for around 4 years still work perfectly well. I'm sure there are plenty of old iPods that are still working too, you don't have to replace every part every time a new one comes out. And on the marketing thing, I'd hope that with every year the product gets slightly better otherwise we would still be riding rigid bikes with shitty brakes and gears.

[Ispy]

Originally Posted by stuart@nsmb.com

...go ride your bike. The interweb seems to make you grumpy.

If I viewed these boards with sigs, I'd add this comment to mine.

[Dirk]

Roy - Planned obsolescence was a comment about Apple, not Avid. It was also a joke. And I loved my Juicy's. Loved, loved, loved my Juicy's. I regret getting rid of them.

Stuart - Feel free to defend your methodology. At no point at all did I reference your current article talking about the new technology. I'm not even sure if NSMB ran a test on the original Elixir's. It's a general comment about the state of bike part reviews. I'm talking about how there's been a serious gap from SRAM in recognizing a deficiency in their product and leaving those of us that own it hanging. I'm talking about the majority of bike part reviews towing the company line. I haven't looked in to this in a few months, but last year my Elixirs were driving me crazy. I searched and searched and there was no mention, anywhere, that there was knowledge of this issue and what to do about it. Lots of internet speculation, nothing concret. Great, they've designed a new brake that deals with it. What about the old ones?

You guys can dismiss me. You can say it's marketing. You can say that's the way that it is. Or you can SPEAK UP AND SUGGEST THAT THERE'S A BETTER WAY OF DOING THINGS.

And Stuart, once again, telling me it's never going to stop? Jesus Christ. You're one person that could actually be in a position to change the way things work. As I said, I'm not even sure that NSMB ran a review of the Elixir and I'm not sure if they mentioned any issues if they did. I posted a review on my Lumberjack Blog and I certainly caught some issues. I just wasn't in a position to get answers from SRAM.

Anyway. We speak with our dollars. I'll probably speak with mine and move on to somebody else.

[Bryce]

Originally Posted by Znarf

They bring two-step as the holy grail. It fails.
They bring a revamped version in the recent 32mm forks and it is hit and miss again.

They say 1:1 actuation is king (which is true) and soon after they go 10spd with a different actuation (and the x.9 and x.7 suck big time now, shifting is as crispy as a rancid donut on the 10spd versions)

And don't forget Revelations with leaky air springs

The old rule of 'don't buy it the first year' is more like 'don't buy it for 2-3 years' for SRAM stuff that has moving parts. Thats the 'consumer R&D period'.

having said that I think I'd like to get some 2011 Code R's. What are the problems with those? Aside from the leaky seals. Just want to make sure I can repair them when they arrive new in the box. Maybe I'll ask SRAM directly.

[Bryce]

Originally Posted by Dirk

No fixes or bleed tips from SRAM?

Just "buy our new brakes because our old brakes weren't as good as we said they were."

fair complaint. Why are there no retrofit kits or any kind of support for the existing product?

Maybe I'll ask SRAM about that too while I'm at it.

[Dirk]

Originally Posted by Bryce

fair complaint.

Thank you!

This isn't a "planned obsolescence" issue (I'm glad they've come up with a fix). This isn't a marketing hype issue. This is a product support issue.

It sounds like if you buy a new lever assembly, you'll have your fix.

[bigd]

clear brake levers - very cool!

too bad you can't get that stuff in real life.